Stretching along. The Encourager SEPTEMBER Message from our pastor. Inside: Small Groups Volunteers Finances Calendar Birthdays/ Anniversaries

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1 L a k e v i e w B a p t i s t C h u r c h SEPTEMBER 2015 Message from our pastor Stretching along the Indiana-Ohio border runs the quiet, flat and generally lightly traveled highway 127. Tonya and I know this country highway well, as we travel a near hundred mile stretch of it several times a year while visiting family. It s not an exciting trip, necessarily. There s an occasional 35 mph slow down through a small town or two. Random garage sales pop up here or there in the summer. One thing there is plenty of farms. Wheat, corn, beans. America is fed from fields like these! I ve noticed an interesting pattern among some of these farm fields. We ll see acres upon acres of tall corn, and then stumble upon a field with nothing in it, except a few stray weeds. Then acres upon acres of some other crop, then just a rolling field of dirt. It seems odd that a farmer, who produces income by growing and harvesting crops, would let a field lay fallow for a season. But any farmer will tell you that it s the fallow years that are essential for bountiful harvests for the years to come. Nutrients that are drawn from the soil from plants over the years are replenished during this rest year. This is such an important farming principle that the Lord instructs Moses to farm the Promised Land in this way. Listen to his instructions to the Israelites from Leviticus 25: 3 For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. 4 But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. 5 Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. It may have seemed strange and even wasteful to Moses, but God designed the ground to rest and re-nourish for a period of time before it could re-engage in bountiful service. As I wrote in the July/ August edition of the newsletter, God has designed our bodies to need a similar Sabbath. Each of us need to take some time each day, each week, and each year to lay fallow and rest so we can later reengage and serve Him with passion and energy. (Take a look at the previous month s newsletter and read all about what it means to Divert Daily, Withdraw Weekly, and Abandon Annually). For many of us, the summer months are an excellent time to engage in these Godly Sabbath practices. Here at church, many of our ministries took a summer break so that its leaders and participants can get the rest they need. But as the fall season appears, it s time to get our hands dirty once again and re-engage in a new ministry season that God has for us. And I m excited! We have a full slate of ministry opportunities for the fall at Lakeview Baptist Church ministries that I know you ll want to participate in and invite your friends to. The fall season officially kicks off with Back To Church Sunday on Sep- tember 13. By this time, the summer is officially over, Labor Day has just been celebrated, kids are back in school and routines are getting set. This is a perfect time to invite one of your friends to church, as they ll be figuring out their new routine, too. By the way, did you know the biggest reason people visit a church for the first Inside: Small Groups Volunteers Finances Calendar Birthdays/ Anniversaries

2 Continued from front page It s not because they saw a billboard, a newspaper ad, a mailer, the website or the sign out front. It s because they were invited! Gary McIntosh. Listen to these statistics about inviting people to church: *7 out of 10 unchurched people have never been invited to church in their whole lives! Tom Rainer, Lifeway Research * 62 percent open to the idea of attending church regularly again. Scott McConnell, LifeWay Research. * Much to the surprise of the Chicken Little' crowd, people are still going to church. And more people would attend if given one simple thing an invitation. Philip Nation, LifeWay Research. Who are you going to invite to church this fall? Why not invite them on Back to Church Sunday! Here are some the other great ministries that will begin soon: *F.R.O.G s Faithfully. Rely. On. God. Our (mostly) Jr. high group will begin meeting again on September 9 at 7pm. Did you know that last year s Frogs program attracted 70 different kids? We had nearly 20 kids each week and more than 30 pizza s throughout the year (and a ridiculous amount of ice cream). More importantly, several individuals have made a confession of faith and were baptized just a few weeks ago! *Women s Group. This group will begin meeting on September 17, at 10am in the church parlor. They are studying the outstanding book, Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg. (Even if you aren t in this group, I highly recommend this book!). Exodus:God s plan for his people. We resume our Sunday morning message series on September 13 looking at the powerful and miraculous ways in which God moved among the Israelites, freeing them from captivity to Egypt and guiding them to the promised land. *Special Movie Event Patterns of Evidence: Exo- dus. September 9,16 at 7pm. Patterns of Evidence: Exodus is an awardwinning documentary by filmmaker Timothy Mahoney that chronicles an indepth archaeological investigation in Egypt as his team attempts to answer the question Is there any evidence that the Exodus story actually happened? Twelve years in the making, this provocative documentary reveals new or rarely seen evidence regarding the Israelites descent into slavery, their Exodus from Egypt and their ultimate conquest of the Promise Land. We ll watch half of this two hour long feature on September 9 and the second half on September 16. To watch a three minute preview/teaser, visit patternsofevidence.com. You really won t want to miss this! *Wednesday Evening Group. Starting September 23 at 7pm, in coordination with the Sunday morning message series Exodus, this group will dive deep into the historical, cultural, religious and geographical context in which the Exodus story and events took place. This 6 week study, videoled by Ray Vanderlaan, is called With All Your Heart, and is part of the outstanding Faith Lessons series. *Young Adult Group. Starting on September 13, Heather Truex will be leading the young adults in bible studies and various events. Gatherings will be held every other Sunday evening. *All Church Potluck and Fellowship Hall re- dedication. October 14, enjoy food and fellowship as our Frogs group makes a special presentation in our newly renovated fellowship hall. More details to come. *Subscription to Right Now Media. Lakeview Baptist Church and its members have been given a gift subscription to an amazing resource called Right Now Media by the Kern Family Foundation. Membership to this service gives you access to a large library of Christian content, including Christian conferences, parenting videos, marriage material, and a vast array of bible studies. It even has a great section for kids! This incredible resource has been called the Netflix of Bible Studies. Gaining access to this service is as easy as responding to an (sent by me) and creating an account on their website. Best of all it s free! Our Church s free subscription will not last forever, so please take advantage of this resource while we still have it! Please see me for more details. In addition to all these ministries, we still have our Adult Sunday School class opportunity on Sunday mornings at 9am in the church office, as well as our great Kids Church program that meets at 10am (concurrent with the worship service). We have high expectations for what the Lord is going to do at Lakeview Baptist Church this next year! Jump in, get involved, and be blessed. Adam Page 2

3 Thank You... Dear Members of Lakeview Baptist Church, It is amazing that we are already half way through the year 2015, but it is true. This midpoint seems a good time to update you on our pantry. Comparing numbers we continue to serve approximately the same number of people each month as compared to last year and our goal is to continually improve this service. Earlier this year, with the help of Lakeview Baptist Church volunteers, evening hours were offered twice a month from 5 PM until 6:30 PM. Very few individuals took advantage of this additional service however and after much discussion, evening hours were discontinued. We are striving to better serve the nutritional needs of our neighbors by distributing fresh meats whenever possible, as opposed to processed foods such as hot dogs, and increasing the healthy foods given specifically to each child in the family. With the help of the Food Bank, we are now able to distribute fresh fruits and vegetables most days to those we serve. When available, we also distribute additional foods from the Calhoun Action Agency. In the future we hope to have recipe cards available to encourage our clients to try different foods and always prepare healthy meals. Our pantry has much to be grateful for and many thanks are due. Through your food collections, Lakeview Baptist has donated approximately 150 pounds of food so far this year. Those who support us with monetary donations to the Food Bank and member who participate in the Meijer Simply Give program are helping keep our shelves filled. Special thanks to all the volunteer from Lakeview Baptist who faithfully help here in so many ways. And last, but certainly not least, thank you for housing our pantry. Recognizing this has been a difficult and expensive year for your church, the sacrifice that you make each day to help keep our pantry open, is deeply appreciated. Clearly, the Lakeview Pantry would not be possible without the tremendous support we receive from the community, especially your congregation. Thank you and God bless you for all you do! Sincerely, Janet Borders Site Coordinator Thank You. Dear Lakeview Baptist Scholarship Committee, Thank you so much for granting me the Cliff & Elsie Werner Scholarship! I am so blessed to be a part of a church with people like you! Lakeview Baptist is my home and you are my family. God has always been with us and will continue to use each and every one of us to glorify Him and to bring people to the marriage supper in heaven! I will use this money to make not only you proud, but also God who knows me more than I know myself. I hope to use this scholarship in a way that pleases the Lord, and to bring others to Christ as he has commanded us to do! I pray that God continues to bless our church and that He ill use us to do wonderful things for His kingdom. Thanks again! Love, Ryan Begley * * * Scholarship Committee, Thank You for your financial support this school year at Grand Valley! Love, Sarah (Snyder) A Note about our visitation ministry To maintain contact with our congregation including those who cannot attend services we are starting a visitation program. If you know of someone who would appreciate a personal visit or if you have visited someone, please stop by the office and make a note in the new white binder labeled Visitation Journal. If you have further questions, please contact Mary Kline ( ), Visitation Chairperson Page 3

4 Quilt Workshop Sept. 24th 10 am Noon (LBC Parlor) Plan to come on the 4th Thursday of each month. Learn something new or bring your own project to work on. Contact Rolllie Longman ( ) or Mary Kline ( ) XYZ All retirees of the church are invited! The next meeting will be Tuesday, Sept. 15, :30 a.m. Meet in parlor for devotions with Donna Headings. Eating out & fellowship at Olive Garden, Kalamazoo Small Groups Wednesday PM Thursday AM Sunday evening Wednesdays, 7 PM Starting September 23rd LBC parlor In coordination with Sunday morning message series Exodus by Ray Vanderlaan Contact Adam Metzger, Women s Group Thursdays, 10:00 AM Starting September 17th Book Study Walking in the Dust of Rabbi Jesus by Lois Tverberg LBC parlor Contact Tonya Metzger, Young Adult Group Starting on September 13 Heather Truex will lead the young adults in bible studies and various events. Gathering will be held every other Sunday evening. Sunday AM Acts of Worship Sundays, 9 AM LBC Church Office Contact Ted Headings, ; Carl Corless, Frogs Join us this school year every Wednesday night at 7 PM beginning September 9th. Fun, food, games and Bible study for school age kids. Watch for sales on canned goods at the grocery store. Stock up on canned fruits and vegetables now for our holiday baskets food drive. Page 4

5 Congratulations... The Scholarship Committee would like to announce the awarding of monies to the following: Coming Soon Ryan Begley will receive the Cliff and Elsie Werner Memorial Endowment and is attending Kellogg Community College. Sarah Snyder will receive a grant from the General Scholarship Fund and is attending Grand Valley State University. NEW MEMBERS LOUISE BUTLER was born on November 25, 1927, in Templeton, Pennsylvania. She grew up in PA, attended two country schools and finished her schooling in Templeton. She met her husband, James in 1946 after World War II. He then came to Michigan in 1946 and she came in 1947 where they married on April 25, He passed away in January, She worked at Community Hospital for 35 years as a dietary supervisor retiring in They had two daughters: Suzanne Edmonds and Sonya Smith. She has 4 grandchildren and 5 greatgrandchildren. Louise has made many trips back to PA and enjoyed going on bus trips. Her hobbies include: collecting elephants and frogs and watching movies on T.V. She has bee attending Lakeview Baptist regularly since 1998 when Mrs. Mary Doerr asked her to attend. She was baptized by Pastor Adam at Goguac Lake on June 21 of this year. She belongs to the XYZ group and lives at 900 W. Territorial Road, Apt ANDRAMEDA (ANDY) PALMITER was born in Battle Creek, Michigan on August 8, She grew up in Battle Creek and attended W.K. Kellogg schools in Hickory Corners graduating in Andy attended a bible school in Alberta Canada for 4 years. Her work experiences include: nurse s aide at the Matheson Nursing Home; a housekeeper in an Indian Mission in Farmington, New Mexico; and she also worked at the Sunnyside Restaurant in Galesburg. Andy joined Lakeview Baptist Church on July 12, Her hobbies include reading and embroidery. She lives at Evelyn s Kare in Kalamazoo, Michigan, at 828 Beth Avenue. Congratulations to you both on becoming members of Lakeview Baptist Church. Health screening event scheduled for Monday, October 12 at Lakeview Baptist Church SAVE Your large Coffee containers. An idea is brewing for their use. Lakeview Baptist Food Pantry Day Friday, Sept. 4 (9:30 am) Please contact Mary Kline or Hal Longman, if you are willing to share your time with this ministry. Page 5

6 SEPTEMBER: Nursery Volunteers 6 Donna Headings & Mary Kline 13 Shauneene Crowe & Christi Marsh 20 Betty Trumbull & Kathy Snyder 27 Lisa Thomas & Marni Haapapuro September Kid s Church leaders: 252 BASICS Greeters 6 Tara Begley & boys 13 Mary Kline 20 Earl & Evelyn Holcomb Coffee Hour Hosts Financial Record Budgeted need for: June July Aug. Monthly: $ 13,624. $ 14,326. $14,326. Received: 6/6 2,508. 7/5 3,235. 8/2 2,603. 6/13 2,242. 7/12 1,517. 8/9 1,501. 6/ /19 1,679. 8/16 1,645. 6/28 2,589. 7/26 1,090. 8/23 1,770. 8/30 TOTAL $ 7,778. $ 7,521. $ 7,519. Year to Date January July July Received: 97,355. Need: 115,274. MEIJER COMMUNITY REWARDS UP- DATE Earned in June & July: $ Since start of program $7,945 (9+ years) LBC earns up to 1% of your purchases each time you use your Rewards card and make a payment by Meijer Credit Card, Cash or PIN- Debit payment. To join go to: If you have any trouble at all hearing the morning worship service, listening devices are now available. Please ask an usher for assistance. Page 6

7 7 S. 20th Street Battle Creek, MI Ph Fax: September Sun Mon Tue 1 Wed 2 7 PM Bible Study Thu 3 6:30 Praise Team Fri 4 9:30 AM LBC Food Pantry Day Sat 5 7 PM Falam Praise Team 6 Communion Sunday 7 Labor Day PM Special Movie Event 7 PM Frogs 10 6:30 Praise Team 11 7 PM Falam Praise Team :30 XYZ 16 7 PM Special Movie Event 7 PM Frogs AM Women s Bible Study 18 7 PM Falam Praise Team PM Falam Praise Team 26 Off ice Closed 13 Young Adult Group meet in evening AM Quilt workshop 6:30 Praise Team PM Council 7 PM Boards meet PM Bible Study 7 PM Frogs AM Women s Bible Study 6:30 Praise Team 27 Young Adult Group meet in evening PM Bible Study 7 PM Frogs Page 7

8 7 S. 20th Street Battle Creek, MI Ph Fax: Sunday, 10:00 a.m. Worship & Kid s Church Birthdays 1 Rob Corless 5 Gael Castellanos Joyce Knight 6 Kathryn Linscott 12 Ashley Messenger 20 Stella Nixon 25 Traudi Werner 27 Macey Nixon Liz Schenk 28 Charles Thomas Anniversaries 3 Pat & Carol Bernard 7 John & Marilyn Edwards 11 Earl & Evelyn Holcomb 12 Tom & Linda Hicks 23 Steve & Cindy Wagner